Happy ending

Yet another morning not seeing Philly Vireo was saved by an afternoon during which I managed to add Turtle Dove and Baltimore Oriole to the Azores list and, whilst watching Pierre's Yellowthroat, found another in the same bush only my one was one helluva better specimen. There are currently three Yellowthroats on the island, making six in total since 2006.

I have looked into the void

I spent every daylight hour looking for Philadelphia Vireo and Chestnut-sided Warbler today. The highlight of the day was cracking my skull against a tree, a right old tooth rattler, pretty much summed up the day. I'm fast approaching the point where the vegetation is closing in and the winnowing wings of the Corvo demons haunt my every step but, apart from that, I'm enjoying every moment. The fact that I am being lead a merry dance through the nine circles by a couple of bundles of Yankee feathers shouldn't detract from the fact that we had double-figures of American landbird species on this island today (Yellow-billed Cuckoo,  Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Yellowthroat, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Bobolink and Baltimore Oriole) - a WP record?

Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! Er,... guys,... it's a horse.

PS. For those who aren't long-term followers of these ramblings, previous year's Corvo gubbins can be found by clicking here(ish) 2006, 2007 and 2008.

And still they come

The wind made Agua (Chestnut-sided Warbler site) and do Vinte (Motown Philly Vireo site) flipping hardwork today, in short, it was what the French call "Furr-king rur-bish". After an interminable period watching branches lashing to and fro, I was saved from this personal hell by a report of an "unidentified warbler with yellow underparts" in da Ponte which rapidly became a Yellow Warbler. Not quite as rapidly, but in reasonably short order, I'd seen it and bagged a record shot as it fed in the dense canopy. So far our top-bollock photographer hasn't got an image so this is a Gwent Birding exclusive...

Good huh?! Tell your friends, you saw it here first,... or don't, I couldn't give a tinker's cuss.

Last year's American Great White Egret is still going strong, stronger probably, it's semi-bust wing is no longer bust. [Edit: it turns out this is almost certainly a new egret, there is another in the caldera]

Just in case you are yet to ride the Corvo blog merry-go-round, there is yet more of this inconsequential garbage at www.corvo2009.blogspot.com. www.peteralfreybirdingnotebook.blogspot.com.

Chicken oriental

Found Indigo Bunting today but it paled compared to another self-find - Willow Warbler, yay Azores list! Mind you, the bunting also had it's arse kicked by Pierre and his Chestnut-sided Warbler but the less said, at this point, about that the better. Also got Alpine Swift, another Azores mega, and the Philly Vireo has reappeared, something else on tomorrow's to-do list.

Another for the CPR chaps.

Discovering Canada

Three hours in the Heart of Darknessesque Fojo paid off today when a movement in a sunny patch of foliage became a yellow-bellied pink-legged pulse-racer, then a slatey-blue backed gem and then, eventually (whilst I was shouting "Canada Warbler Fojo" into the walkie-talkie), a balls-out bespectacled beauty. Unfortunately, being the nice guy I am, my brief impersonation of a public service broadcaster meant I missed the first opportunity to get a photo. The bird then proved to be a bit of a bar steward, instantly disappearing for an hour and a half, then showing to Ferran, disappearing for another hour, reappearing momentarily in front of me, avoiding detection for another 30 minutes before, finally, giving itself up to all ten of the assembled masses. Being in the depths of Fojo, there was more vegetation between eye and bird than is strictly necessary (or fair) and light was a mere memory, as a result my photographs are more an experiment in abstraction than accurate illustration (got enough to get it past the CPR though).

This is precisely the view I got on finding the little beauty - pink legs against a yellow belly and white undertail,... it's Canada o'clock!

Just to give you an idea of the vegetation, there's nothing to see here,... wait a minute!

Three Azores tick day

Went looking for an American sparrow, decided to turn right where Peter went left, I found a Wheatear, Peter found a Bobolink. Luckily, I required both for the all-consuming Azores list. After a bit of fannying around the Bobolink eventually showed rather well, not that you could tell that from my pictures. After lunch took a walk to refind the Baltimore Oriole and blundered,... turned up the Rose-breasted Grosbeak instead,... DOH! A late afternoon seawatch produced thousands of Cory's and a Merlin heading off towards Flores. In this wind the Cory's were doing a passable impression of a proper seabird, shedding 90% of the lazy-poor-excuse-for-a-shearwater character and taking on their wind-inspired, almost dashing, alter ego. The Merlin, was the third Azores tick of the day, but didn't fly past close enough to allow the detection of a yankee accent.

Bobolink in the rain, moments after it was found early this morning.

Bobolink in the sun, moments after it was refound a good few hours, and one despairing Frenchman, later.

[Edit: Manuel, our erstwhile host, went and won the local mayoral elections today,... we're staying with royalty! For more information on Manuel and Partido Socialista Açores see here. Go on! You know you wanna.]

Hmmm, now to think up a title

Went in search of the Philly Vireo today, unfortunately, five hours in the valley formerly known as 'the valley with no name' (now known by at least two different names, neither of which I know how to pronounce or spell correctly), drew a blank. However, a dendroica was heard and a thrush briefly seen, both by members of the French contingent. A break in the vireo hunt was provided by a quick Ovenbird twitch, the result of which was to shift my Azores list off Nelson (always a bit of a relief). On the way back I opted against yet another Rose-breasted Grosbeak in favour of purchasing a box of Bran Flakes,... I think we can all agree, a faultless display of tactical nouse.

Second best is close to ideal

Arrived on Corvo around 14:00, by the end of the day we had bagged three of the four American megas on this rock. Not quite a full house but I can't moan to much. In order of photographic crapularity the three species rounded up were:

1. another Black-throated Green, hot on the heels of last year's (yawn)...


2. a Black and White Warbler (the yawning had stopped at this point)...


3. and an American Redstart (no yawning here either).


We also had time to twitch a nighthawk, flying around in the twilight. Not a bad end to an, almost, perfect day.

Eerie Terceira

Pretty much relived yesterday today, the quarry had almost exactly the same birds in it plus a Greenshank and several of the inland sites were totally devoid of birds. Did manage to add Collared Dove and Curlew to my Azores list at Praia Port (the whoops of joy could be heard clean to Sao Miguel) and, whilst touring various coastal localities, we rounded up Common Scoter, Sandwich Tern (two more Azores ticks), a dose of Short-beaked Common Dolphins and a few Madeiran Wall Lizards ('category C' on here, introduced to the islands, presumably accidentally, some while back).

Two facets of gulling on Terceira, the port of Praia complete with a young lab helper...


And the tip,...

Gull ID by Wertheimer, Koffka & Köhler

Following a fractious and, ultimately, unsuccessful attempt at getting to Corvo a couple of days early, we accepted defeat and set about touring the sites on Terceira. The quarry delivered the usual array of Nearctic waterfowl with 2 Semi-palmated Plover, 2 Semi-palmated Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 American Golden Plover, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper and a Blue-winged Teal. Vying for attention from the opposite direction were 1 White-winged Black Tern (2nd for the Azores), 1 Wood Sandpiper and 5 Ruff.


Praia Pools and a couple of sites 'up-country' were absolutely devoid of anything notable, however, Praia Port turned up a very early American Herring Gull.




A couple of features might make this individual potentially troublesome (with regards sneaking it past a rarity committee on the European mainland, e.g. on the deck the dark bases to the greater coverts aren't obvious and the undertail could be more strongly barred), however, a 'gestalt approach' to identifying this bird results in only one conclusion.